Paul Riegelhaupt is a M.D./Ph.D. candidate in the laboratory of Dr. Myles Akabas.

Why I Chose Einstein

I liked the idea of doing research that had a close tie to clinical medicine.

Favorite Story About My Research

I had a fairly ambitious, high-risk project.
I toiled away for two years and wasn’t getting too far. I was hanging out with a friend in
another lab, and we started discussing ideas we could do together. Over the course of
two weeks, we came up with my thesis project and actually started a collaboration without
necessarily having approval from our bosses. It’s stuff my lab has never done before—my
P.I. will probably end up writing a grant on it.

Best Thing About Being a Student at Einstein

The curriculum makes sense. It is focused on you becoming a scientist. The
qualifying exam is earlier in the Ph.D., forcing you to get an idea early on of where things
are headed and preventing you from being aimless in the lab.